The Next Nehe Part Three: Marino Mikaele-Tu'u
For All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen, the make-up of his 31-man squad for the sport’s global showpiece event in Japan will, for the most part, be solidified.
Most players who have featured frequently for the national side this year should feel a degree of confidence that they will take part in the tournament in 10 months’ time, which means there should be little room for alteration in terms of personnel at this late stage of this current World Cup cycle.
However, as proven by the All Blacks in the last World Cup cycle, there is always room for a few late applications in the final few months leading into the tournament.
Nehe Milner-Skudder headlined a trio of rookies – which included Waisake Naholo and Codie Taylor – that were named in Hansen’s 2015 World Cup squad following a series of spell-binding performances for the Hurricanes throughout his debut Super Rugby season.
After identifying Chiefs rookie Etene Nanai-Seturo and Crusaders fullback Will Jordan as a pair of potential bolters earlier in the week, our final pick in the series comes from the Highlanders forward pack in the form of Number Eight Marino Mikaele-Tu’u.
A former New Zealand Schools and national under-20 representative, Marino Mikaele-Tu’u has come through the ranks to prove himself to be a tantalising prospect for the future.
Standing at 1.91m and 111kg, the 21-year-old was in outstanding form in his third season with Hawke’s Bay in 2018, constantly proving himself to be a massive ball-carrying threat due to his ruthlessness and directness in attack.
This is portrayed in offensive statistics in the Mitre 10 Cup, which saw him beat 21 defenders (fourth-best for No. 8’s in the competition), carry for over 350 metres (fourth- best), and make at least one clean break per match (second-best) this year.
It was that hustle that saw him come into the Highlanders’ squad as injury cover in the 2018 Super Rugby campaign, and after impressing in five outings, he has deservedly been handed a full-time spot on the franchise’s 2019 roster.
In a squad that already features five All Blacks in their loose forward stocks, there is arguably no better team in the country to help foster Mikaele-Tu’u’s obvious talent, but that could just as easily hinder his chances to stake a claim for higher honours.
READ MORE
The Next Nehe: Etene Nanai-Seturo
The Next Nehe: Will Jordan
Unfortunately. Mikaele-Tu’u may have a hard time dislodging seven-test All Black Luke Whitelock from his role as starting No. 8 at the Highlanders.
Whitelock’s defensive work rate and leadership capacity within coach Aaron Mauger’s squad is highly valued, and that alone presents a lofty hurdle for Mikaele-Tu’u to overcome.
However, as teammate and fellow loose forward Shannon Frizell proved against the Blues earlier this year, all Mikaele-Tu’u needs is one barnstorming display to catapult himself into All Blacks consideration.
Those types of performances were churned out by Mikaele-Tu’u on a regular basis for Hawke’s Bay, and if he can deliver the same sort of impact for the Highlanders, then he might well come into the national selector’s plans as the No. 8 back-up to skipper Kieran Read that they have been longing for.
Mikaele-Tu’u’s explosive offensive capability is something that Read has been lacking in recent times – look no further than the All Blacks’ loss to Ireland a fortnight ago.
Despite all the leadership and defensive prosperity that the national captain brings to the table, that match proved the All Blacks need a threatening ball-carrier from No. 8.
Neither Read – nor Whitelock, his current back-up – has shown that in 2018, and while long- term development star Akira Ioane has continually shown that he can provide that sort of ball-carrying danger that the national selectors will be craving for, there are still plenty of amendments that need to be made in other areas of his game before he can receive a promotion.
That leaves the door ajar for Mikaele-Tu’u to swoop in and claim a place in next year’s World Cup squad as an attacking No. 8 behind the comparably conservative Read.
In order for him to do that, though, he needs to overtake Whitelock in the Highlanders’ starting team.
Just one brilliant appearance could be enough to do the job, but it could just as easily be too much of an ask for Mikaele-Tu’u to conquer, leaving the 2023 World Cup a more likely possibility.
Learn more about some of the Japanese cities hosting World Cup matches next year with our exclusive city guides:
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments